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Capcom’s upcoming ninth instalment in its survival horror franchise, Resident Evil Requiem, is set to take the series back to its roots, returning to its original “overarching narrative” surrounding the Umbrella Corporation and Raccoon City after its two predecessors brought the series elsewhere.
This comes from an interview with game producer Masato Kumazawa published on the PlayStation Blog, where he answered various questions surrounding the highly anticipated sequel. According to Kumazawa, the team decided to return to the franchise’s iconic setting to commemorate its 30th anniversary, as the title will release three decades on from the original Resident Evil’s March 1996 launch.
“In recent mainline titles like Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village, the series has explored the broader world of the Resident Evil universe by focusing on incidents involving the Winters family.” Kumazawa explains, “With Resident Evil Requiem, however, we wanted to return to a story that continues the overarching narrative rooted in Raccoon City and the secret machinations of the Umbrella Corporation. As the series celebrates its 30th anniversary, we believe Raccoon City is the most fitting setting.”
To coincide with the return to Raccon City, the team also wanted to introduce a new character with direct ties to the unfortunate events that occurred there, hence its protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, who was one of the lead characters in the 2003 spin-off Resident Evil Outbreak, which featured episodic storylines of eight individuals as they venture through a zombie-inhabited Raccoon City.
“When creating a story set in the ruins of Raccoon City, we felt it was fitting to have a character with a personal connection to the city itself. In this title, which aims to focus on horror, we introduce Grace as a new, relatable protagonist, who is unlike previous protagonists Leon or Chris.” Kumazawa added.
“By making Grace someone who reflects the player’s own vulnerability, we believe players will enjoy a gameplay experience filled with tension and immersion. Grace is a character with a low tolerance for fear, but she grows throughout the story and eventually begins to confront various horrors with courage.”
It seems the upcoming title has bold plans to take the series back to where it all began, not only from a story perspective, but from a gameplay one too, as Capcom had also stated how the team experimented with plans to make the game open-world with online elements before changing course, shown in a developer diary video featuring a now-cancelled early version of the title.
Series fans will surely appreciate that the team has chosen to stick to what works instead of following industry trends, which, as history has proven, usually leads to disaster. Whether the final game would be more linear, like Resident Evil 2, or more of an open-zone format like Resident Evil Village remains to be seen as Resident Evil Requiem approaches its release on 27 February 2026 for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
